Doctor Who: 10 Clever Moments Of Foreshadowing You Probably Missed

6. Smoke Of The Raven

Doctor Who The Woman Who Lived Peter Capaldi Maisie Williams
BBC

The Twelfth Doctor's adventure with Ashildr in The Woman Who Lived basically consisted of these two immortals discussing why eternal life sucks. Well, to be fair, it's Ashildr who does the bulk of the complaining, constantly reminding the Doctor that all the mortals around them will eventually die. How cheery.

In describing the inevitable loneliness that faces them both, Ashildr tells the Doctor that the people around him - drawing specific attention to Clara - will "blow away like smoke", which sounds like an unusually particular way to describe someone's passing.

And that's because it is.

Flash-forward a few episodes to Face The Raven, and Clara has reached the end of her life at the claws of the titular bird. When it strikes her, she lets out an enormous scream of pain, and what pours out of her mouth a few seconds later? That's right - a cascade of thick, black smoke, almost like her life force is leaving her body.

Doctor Who Face The Raven Clara Oswald death
BBC

It's not an easy clue to pick up on in the moment, but Ashildr's description of mortality beautifully foreshadows Clara's heartbreaking demise.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!